Kearny Interim Chief of Police Bob Ingulli

Kearny’s newly hired Interim Chief of Police Bob Ingulli is not new to Kearny. In fact, he served as Chief of Police 12 years ago. He is familiar to Kearny and is very excited to be here again to serve the community.

When he learned that Kearny needed some help, he was more than willing to step up and answer the call. Ingulli was hired to take over for Chief Joe Martinez, who was placed on administration leave earlier this year.

Interim Chief Ingulli duties include full time responsibilities of the chief of the department. He is also a working chief who fulfills patrol duties in rotation.

Before coming to Kearny Ingulli served as Chief of Police in Florence for 12 years. His started his career in law enforcement with the New York Police Department in 1974.

While with NYPD he was with the Transit Department where he worked patrol and was a detective. He attained the rank of Patrol Sergeant and Detective Sergeant and retired in 1995 as a Lieutenant.

After retirement he and his wife headed west and ended up in Tucson where he went to work for the Tucson Police Department serving as a patrol officer, on the walking beat, and as a detective.

He said although KPD has been functioning well, he would like to make some improvements focusing on the image and perception of the department.

“We’re working on updating forms and putting into place administrative ways of getting things done to present a more professional image,” Chief said. “We also want to reinsure the community that we can improve.”

He added that he is big on community involvement and believes citizens interacting with the police is key to having a safe place to live. He wants to re-instate the Block Watch program and expand the VIP program.

“I very much appreciate what the volunteers have been doing, but I would like to actively recruit more people to get involved by offering more duties,” Chief said.

Those duties would include more patrol, a home alone program for kids, securing crime scenes, traffic assistance, administrative assistance, fingerprinting and dispatchers assistance.

He also embraces an open door policy and welcomes ideas to help the department better serve the community. “Just call me or drop by,” Chief said.

He added he very much appreciates the opportunity to serve Kearny. “I enjoy this town with all the nice folks…Kearny has always had a place in my heart,” he said.